Dec 9, 2008

Stupid America? Automaker blame and cheap gas

GM is bleeding money in the US, yet throughout the world GM’s auto business is profitable. Why? Why is GM near bankruptcy?

Is it all bad management? Is it all the fault of the UAW? Is it all because GM killed the electric car?

I don’t think so. Certainly, GM’s management was bad in decades past and the UAW was uncompetitive. However, killing the electric car didn’t kill GM. Even if GM was making as many EVs today as Toyota does hybrid cars, GM would still be on the precipice of bankruptcy.

Complacency killed the Big 3. Complacency caused by cheap gas.

Certainly, auto companies lobbied Congress not to raise fuel economy standards, and, until recently, Congress has been more than happy to oblige. And Americans didn’t care, as fuel economy was even less important than cup holders for the majority of car buyers.

Thus, any mention of a gas tax has been instant political suicide. Yet, protecting our foreign oil resources has cost more than a gas tax ever would have. And, what do we have to show for it?

Ooops. That’s right. We have the greatest military the world loves to hate, Whooohooo! America! We’re number 1!

Killing Detroit won’t lead to any greater fuel efficiency than if Detroit is bailed out. If you want to blame someone, or something, blame cheap gas. If you can’t do that, then you can’t handle the truth.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Hybrids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.